At the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference 2016 held at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, Phil Blizzard had the opportunity to conduct a video interview with Mohamed Yehia Rashed, the new minister of tourism for the Republic of Egypt.

These are the key aspects from that interview which started with a statement from the minister on their key message in terms of growing the tourism industry.

Mohamed Yehia Rashed: Actually, our eye is clearly is to lead the tourism industry into a better tomorrow, a better future.

We hold a message of positive, prosperity, hope.

We want people to travel free.

More important is that we want Egypt to be easy to book, easy to travel to.

There is quite a lot of things about the new image of Egypt.

We want to also motivate the worldwide tourism.

It’s not about the Egyptian tourism only it’s about all the worldwide tourism.

Some people start scaring travellers to travel to Paris, to Brussels, to London.

We are all in the same boat, and we need to make sure we are united to bring the idea of travel freely and have people enjoy themselves and have fun around the world.

Phil Blizzard: Tourism development needs investment and his is an investment conference so what are you trying to achieve here?

MYR: I think what we need to give to people is how important Egypt is on the map of the worldwide tourism.

We hold one third of the treasury of the world.

We have the largest beaches on the Mediterranean Sea, on the Red Sea, so we have a lot to offer.

Egypt needs to take its place back and with this investors should actually focus on how they can develop their investment plans in Egypt.

PB: So moving from the investment aspect to that of people coming to Egypt for their vacations. What’s your message when it comes to security at airports?

MYR: Well, there is no issue on security at the airport.

There is not one single incident.

People take this as a tag line, but it’s not true.

We haven’t had one security issue in any of the airports besides the fact of the Russian plane, which can happen everywhere and has happened everywhere.

Basically, when you talk about security we ensure people that Egypt is secure.

We have put a lot of new equipment in; we will continue to put a lot of equipment in.

We’re training and re-training the people.

The message is that we haven’t had one single incident at its airport, and people can travel freely. Egypt is 100 per cent secure.

PB: Regarding marketing, getting your message across to get travellers into Egypt. What’s going to be your key phrase?

MYR: I think the key phrase is come, and see yourself the mother of the universe is waiting for your visit.

PB: Thanks. Finally, events like the World Travel Awards - how important are they for giving destinations, and participating partners in the tourism industry.